Salary expectations and employer responses

Last registered on February 10, 2026
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Salary expectations and employer responses
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0017845
Initial registration date
February 09, 2026

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
February 10, 2026, 6:43 AM EST

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

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Primary Investigator

Name
Xiaoyue Shan
Affiliation
National University of Singapore
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2026-02-12
End date
2027-04-30
Keywords
Gender, Labor
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
This study investigates the impact of jobseekers' salary expectations on employer responses using an audit experiment. We create fictitious jobseeker profiles with randomly generated characteristics such as gender, education, and work experience. When applying for positions, jobseekers declare an expected salary that is visible to the employer. By monitoring early-stage recruitment outcomes, we examine how salary expectations affect employers' interest in candidates and whether the effect differs by candidate gender.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Shan, Xiaoyue. 2026. "Salary expectations and employer responses." AEA RCT Registry. February 10. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.17845-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The primary intervention of the experiment is the salary that jobseekers expect or request for each position, combined with the gender of jobseekers.
Intervention Start Date
2026-02-12
Intervention End Date
2026-12-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Employer responses to applications, i.e., whether an application is viewed by the employer or shortlisted for an interview.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
We use platform records (administrative data) to measure whether an application is viewed by the employer or receives interview invitations. In addition, we record employer callback through other channels (e.g., emails and platform messages).

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We first create jobseeker profiles with randomly assigned characteristics, including gender, education, marital status, and work experience. We randomly match jobseekers to positions and randomize the expected salary stated in the applications. Each position receives a balanced number of applications from male and female jobseekers.

Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomization done in office by a computer.
Randomization Unit
Jobseeker characteristics are randomized at the profile level.
Salary expectations are randomized at the application level, stratified by position and gender.
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
In total, we plan to create approximately 300 jobseeker profiles.
Sample size: planned number of observations
We plan to submit approximately 20,000 applications to 2,000 positions. To avoid sending too many applications during a short period, we will conduct the experiment in two or three separate rounds, with 2-3 months apart.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
The jobseeker profiles and applications will be balanced by gender, i.e., approximately 150 jobseekers and 10,000 applications in each gender group. We plan to randomly assign five levels of salaries, so each salary level will have approximately 4,000 applications. Together, we have 10 gender-by-salary arms, each arm with approximately 2,000 application observations.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
NUS Economics Department Ethics Review Committee
IRB Approval Date
2025-10-22
IRB Approval Number
N/A
Analysis Plan